Home
It might seem a brazen move for a football manager to discuss his own team’s glaring weaknesses in the public arena but then Ian Evatt has never been worried about telling it like it is.
Eyebrows were raised yesterday when Evatt volunteered the fact his team had conceded 17 goals from set pieces – the defending of which has been their Achilles heel since the day he walked through the door.
That all-too-soft centre was exposed at Carlisle United in the swirling winds on Boxing Day and there is a sense of growing frustration from the Bolton manager that his players are allowing their good work elsewhere to be overshadowed by not executing the very basics.
The signing of defensive giants like Ricardo Santos, Reiss Greenidge and George Taft in the summer was seen as a nod to the physical rigours of the division. But while Santos has impressed with ball at feet, neither Greenidge nor Taft have been granted much of a first-team opportunity, with Alex Baptiste and Ryan Delaney generally preferred over the last few months.
As an ex-centre back, the deficiencies are all the more galling to Evatt, who maintains his players have the information they need to mark opponents, but perhaps not the desire.
“The reason I brought in big centre halves was because I know in League Two that more than 50 per cent of the goals come from set pieces,” he told The Bolton News.
“What I can’t do is go on and mark someone for them. I would like to show them how it is done but I can’t.
“That isn’t technique, or how good a player you are, it’s man-for-man stop your player from scoring. You have a responsibility to stop him from scoring.
“We can help ourselves with our line. On Saturday I felt we didn’t make it difficult for them because we were sat too deep. We invited the ball into our box.
“But it boils down to the determination you have to stop your opponent from scoring and we haven’t had enough of it this season.”
The simple solution would be to address the set piece issues on the training ground – which is easier said that done in a tight festive schedule.
With so little time between games to address the fine details, Evatt is relying on his defenders to win their individual penalty-box battles.
“I don’t think you can train set pieces man-to-man because everyone’s routine is different, the delivery is different, you can’t really replicate that,” he said.
“You can feed in information. The players know who they are marking, they have that information, but when they are out there on the pitch it comes down to whether they can stop their opponent from scoring, and we have to be more determined and aggressive.
“We are not a small team. We signed those players deliberately because this league is physical and revolves around set pieces. We just haven’t done it well enough.”
Evatt has discussed adding a more physical dimension to his attack but underlined that it will not come at a cost to his footballing philosophy.
However scruffy the game at Carlisle, Wanderers hauled back a three-goal deficit against one of League Two’s in-form sides. And that, admits Evatt, is the most exasperating thing about a team who cannot shift their split personality.
“We are one of the biggest teams in the league, especially at the back, so something has to be wrong and it’s between the ears, it’s just decision making,” he said.
“We have all seen that they can do it. To come back from 3-0 down on Saturday shows they are doing something right but we’re doing a hell of a lot wrong as well, and it is inconsistency which is really frustrating.
“Will I tinker? Of course. Will I change personnel? I will, until we get it right.”
Source
Eyebrows were raised yesterday when Evatt volunteered the fact his team had conceded 17 goals from set pieces – the defending of which has been their Achilles heel since the day he walked through the door.
That all-too-soft centre was exposed at Carlisle United in the swirling winds on Boxing Day and there is a sense of growing frustration from the Bolton manager that his players are allowing their good work elsewhere to be overshadowed by not executing the very basics.
The signing of defensive giants like Ricardo Santos, Reiss Greenidge and George Taft in the summer was seen as a nod to the physical rigours of the division. But while Santos has impressed with ball at feet, neither Greenidge nor Taft have been granted much of a first-team opportunity, with Alex Baptiste and Ryan Delaney generally preferred over the last few months.
As an ex-centre back, the deficiencies are all the more galling to Evatt, who maintains his players have the information they need to mark opponents, but perhaps not the desire.
“The reason I brought in big centre halves was because I know in League Two that more than 50 per cent of the goals come from set pieces,” he told The Bolton News.
“What I can’t do is go on and mark someone for them. I would like to show them how it is done but I can’t.
“That isn’t technique, or how good a player you are, it’s man-for-man stop your player from scoring. You have a responsibility to stop him from scoring.
“We can help ourselves with our line. On Saturday I felt we didn’t make it difficult for them because we were sat too deep. We invited the ball into our box.
“But it boils down to the determination you have to stop your opponent from scoring and we haven’t had enough of it this season.”
The simple solution would be to address the set piece issues on the training ground – which is easier said that done in a tight festive schedule.
With so little time between games to address the fine details, Evatt is relying on his defenders to win their individual penalty-box battles.
“I don’t think you can train set pieces man-to-man because everyone’s routine is different, the delivery is different, you can’t really replicate that,” he said.
“You can feed in information. The players know who they are marking, they have that information, but when they are out there on the pitch it comes down to whether they can stop their opponent from scoring, and we have to be more determined and aggressive.
“We are not a small team. We signed those players deliberately because this league is physical and revolves around set pieces. We just haven’t done it well enough.”
Evatt has discussed adding a more physical dimension to his attack but underlined that it will not come at a cost to his footballing philosophy.
However scruffy the game at Carlisle, Wanderers hauled back a three-goal deficit against one of League Two’s in-form sides. And that, admits Evatt, is the most exasperating thing about a team who cannot shift their split personality.
“We are one of the biggest teams in the league, especially at the back, so something has to be wrong and it’s between the ears, it’s just decision making,” he said.
“We have all seen that they can do it. To come back from 3-0 down on Saturday shows they are doing something right but we’re doing a hell of a lot wrong as well, and it is inconsistency which is really frustrating.
“Will I tinker? Of course. Will I change personnel? I will, until we get it right.”
Source